Category Archives: Campus Events

SC4’s Art Night brings in a crowd of the creative.
Jenelle Kalaf
Photo EditorSC4 once again hosted Art Night where students of all ages could come and learn something about art and get a hands on experience.
It began at 6 P.M. and went to midnight, with four class sessions during the night in each section.
Being mainly student run, most of the instructors were students, including: Natalie Mainguy, Demond Jones, Marcus Taylor, Cortney Roles, Haley Hoyt, Shelby Wright, and Alyssa Diebolt. These students taught classes in categories such as theater, drawing, music and ceramics to anyone who registered for the event. Just a few of the classes that happened that night consisted mask making, music theory and still life drawing.
Kelsey Kittridge, who is planning on attending SC4 in the winter, said she enjoyed the event. Kittridge first tried the mask making class in the theater category. “I’ve always wanted to be involved in theater, but my nerves get the best of me.”
Kittridge also stated, “It was something new. It’s an opportunity for me to do art.”
Celeste Skalnek, head executive coordinator of the Visual and Fine Arts department at SC4, said that she wanted to bring the community together through art, so anyone could experience creating.
If you missed Art Night, but still interested in the many events the Fine Arts department will be hosting, you can find a calendar at sc4.edu/arts.

Coming back this fall, one might have noticed that more of their classes have been cancelled or that it seems like there is less traffic along the sidewalks crossing the campus. With only 3,821 students enrolled this semester, low enrollment is clearly the cause of the phenomenon.
Student enrollment has decreased in the past few semesters. During the Winter 2015 semester 3,952 students were enrolled and during the Fall 2014 semester 4,226 students were enrolled. Since the Fall semester there has been an overall decrease of 9.6%, or 405 students.
With this drop in student enrollment, many classes weren’t filled to capacity. The week before classes began 33 classes were cancelled due to not having enough students to even hold the class. The classes ranged from prerequisite 100 level English and Speech classes to advanced 200 level Criminal Justice and Biology classes.
One class that was cancelled was Kathy Ruby’s Human Sexuality (Psychology 280). This is the first time in 15 years that this class has been cancelled, according to Ruby. “I was just blown away,” she said, “This class is always filled up.” This semester’s cancellation has not deterred Ruby, she plans on holding the PSY 280 class in two sections on Monday and Wednesday from 1 to 2:50 pm and from 4 to 5:50 pm during the Winter 2016 semester.
According to Jim Neese, SC4’s Associate Dean of Academic Services, classes are chosen and put into the registry based on anticipated enrollment and the anticipated necessity of the class for students to graduate on time. While student enrollment was expected to drop this semester, it was only anticipated to drop 3% (from the Fall 2014 semester) instead of the nearly 10% drop. “We hate to cancel classes,” said Neese, “It does impact the students. We try to do what we can.”
Neese also commented on the process of class cancellations. “It’s a mostly subjective process,” he said. Many factors go into consideration when cancelling a class such as class limits, previous success of the class, necessity for students to graduate on time, whether there will be enough students in the class to pay faculty, as well as faculty input.
With all of this semester’s cancellations, fewer sections of current required classes and fewer electives might be offered for the Winter 2016 semester. The classes offered for next semester will be posted on the Wave at least two weeks before registration opens in November. Neese offers the advice that students should plan out their classes and talk with their advisors before classes even open up for registration. “Students need to register early to make sure their class isn’t cancelled,” he said. If classes fill up early enough, sections can be added on. Neese stated, “It’s easier to add classes instead of cancelling them.”
Registration for the Winter 2016 semester begins on Monday, Nov. 2 at midnight. In order to prevent class cancellations, students should try to register early. Official class cancellations will be determined by Friday, Jan. 8 for the Winter semester.

Back to knock your socks off
Emily Mainguy
Editor-in-Chief“Playing music makes me the happiest person alive, and when I see the audience really getting into it, it just makes it perfect, “explains Dave Bennett.
The Clarinet Swing Kings Quartet visited SC4 again this past Saturday, Sep. 26. The last time Bennett performed at SC4 was back in 2012.
The Swing Kings performed many songs from their newest album “Don’t be that way” including “St. James Infirmary,” “When the Saints Go Marching In,” and “Yesterday.”
For everyone who missed this performance the next concert of a similar style will be a part of the Thursday Noon and Night Concert Series on Nov. 12 featuring the returning group Jimmy Blues Band with vocal soloist Joan Crawford.

See You At The Pole 2015
Katie Hunckler
Staff Writer
Students of all backgrounds will be meeting at the flagpole for a time of Christian prayer on Wednesday, Sept. 23.
See You At The Pole (SYATP) is an international event that encourages students to come together with fellow believers on their school campuses and lift their school, nation, and world up in prayer. It is a unique opportunity to pray publicly in a location where public prayer is not as common.
The theme of this year’s SYATP event is “United,” based on the verse Acts 1:14, which reads: “They all met together and were constantly united in prayer.” (NLT)
SYATP will be taking place on the SC4 campus at both 7:30 a.m. and noon on Wednesday, Sept. 23. The gatherings will be at the flagpole in front of the student center. Anyone is welcome to attend either or both events.

Everyone wants to learn how to do something in the arts. Usually excuses range from not enough time to it’s too expensive to learn.
Well here’s your chance.
Stop by SC4 Fine Arts Building Friday, Sept. 18 from 6 p.m. to midnight for the SC4 Art Night.
The night consists of free 90-minute workshops covering ceramics, theatre make up, music and drawing.
Each session covers basic skills for each category.
The night is recommended for ages 14 to 35, but anyone can come.
Space is limited. To register, call (810) 989- 5709. For more information, visit www.sc4.edu/arts.

Free Microsoft 365
Jamie Koebke
Business Editor
Standing in the bookstore you can feel the sadness and dread weighing heavily in the air as students spend hundreds on books and supplies.
There is a positive to this semester’s supplies. St. Clair County Community College is offering a free download of Microsoft Office 365.
Microsoft Office 365 is similar to Microsoft Office 2013. The differences being that with Microsoft Office you can only access it on the computer it was originally installed on. With Office 365 you have access to all office programs on multiple devices, both online and offline. You’ll also receive 1TB of Cloud Storage.
“Microsoft Office 365 is available for every SC4 student and can be used on up to five devices.” said Jaren Jones who works at an offsite IT help desk listed on SC4’s website.
SC4 advertises for Microsoft 365 on the Portal page under announcements section.
“Every single teacher told me about it being available for free the first day of classes,” Ben Sroka, 19 of Marysville, said.
For some students, teachers telling them about the download did not help. Hannah Buckley, 18 of Port Huron, said, “I wish I would’ve known about this before I bought Microsoft. I think SC4 could’ve made students more aware by advertising on social media.”
Downloading Microsoft Office 365 was made easy. Simply go to the portal page and click on the link that says “Office 365 available for students; access Microsoft Office applications on multiple computers, devices” under announcements and follow the instructions found there.

A lot of changes are happening this semester. One of them is the new look and attitude of the former Marketing & Management Club, now the Business Club of SC4.
Part of the new look includes a new logo, which is where you come in. The Business Club is holding a contest open to all SC4 students starting on Wednesday Sep 16 in which students can submit potential logos for the Business Club to use. All submissions need to be turned in by Wednesday Sep 23 to be looked over and chosen by the Business Club members. The winner of the contest will win a free shirt with the new logo printed on it. For more details visit the club’s Facebook page or attend one of their meetings every Thursday at 3 pm in room 112 of the Main Building.
The logo isn’t the only thing new about the Business Club of SC4, the club has a new mission statement:
“This Club’s mission is to provide students with the opportunity to utilize the knowledge learned inside the classroom through real-world experience while cultivating business relationships and serving the area through charitable and volunteer efforts. Our focus is on all general aspects of business including accounting, entrepreneurship, economics, finance, marketing, and management, as well as the not so talked about aspects of business such as customer service, leadership, networking, organization, personal conduct, and much more.”
With a new mission statement, logo, and all new officers running the club, we can expect a lot of new things from the Business Club, with the help of new members of course. Although the group’s main focus is centered on business majors, anyone is welcome to join.

The time to say goodbye is here again. I can honestly say that my experience as Editor-in-Chief of the Erie Square Gazette would have little reflection of happiness if it wasn’t for the people that I worked closely with for the past year or so.
In my position, I did the best I could. Whether it was preparing letters to potential advertisers, figuring out page counts for the upcoming issue, and writing when I could find the time, I have no regrets.
I’ll make this short and sweet, the paper’s advisor, John Lusk, taught me a lot about my position, and mostly, my career as a journalist. If it weren’t for Lusk, I probably would have not been able to keep up with my position. His encouragement and honesty gave me the reassurance I needed to fulfill my position to the best of my abilities.
I would like to thank the staff of the Erie Square Gazette for keeping me on task, helping with distribution and other things that overwhelmed me this year. And most of all, for completing the assignments I asked them to do with little or no arguments. You all made my life a lot easier guys, thank you.
A shout out to the other clubs and Student Government is in order as well. You all have been supportive and helpful and I hope you remember me the same.
And last but not least, our readers. Thank you for taking the time to read our little paper. We couldn’t do it without you.
One day I will return as a guest writer, but until then, I leave you all with a quote from an author that perfectly sums up how I feel about everyone I’ve mentioned in this goodbye.
“You’ve changed me forever. And I’ll never forget you.”- Kiera Cass.

Students Emily Wilton and Kaitlynn Rumsey were named to SC4’s Academic Team according to a press release from March 23. Wilton and Rumsey were automatically named to the All-Michigan Academic Team when they were accepted to the All-SC4 Academic Team.
The SC4 alumni association gave Wilton and Rumsey each a $500 scholarship for their accomplishments.
Wilton and Rumsey applied for the All-USA Academic Team last fall. The All-USA Academic Team is a scholarship that recognizes academic achievements from students belonging to Phi Theta Kappa (PTK), the international honor society of two year colleges. Wilton and Rumsey did not make it onto the All-USA team, but they still hold their All-SC4 and All-Michigan Academic Team titles.
According to PTK’s Lambda Mu chapter advisor, Angela Heiden, the candidates had to apply for the team in the fall as well as have a 3.5 GPA or higher to be considered. Wilton and Rumsey were chosen by an SC4 committee led by Heiden.
Academic achievements were not the only factor in influencing the application process. Wilton, 19, said “Basically, the competition part of it (The Academic Team) was the application process. I had to write six essays.” The topics for the essays included how Wilton was influenced by Phi Theta Kappa, how she influenced PTK, as well as describing a time she had struggled.
Wilton is the current president of SC4’s Lambda Mu Chapter of Phi Theta Kappa and will be graduating in May with an honors associate degree. Rumsey on the other hand has already earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology at Ferris State University. She is studying at SC4 to be a nurse practitioner.
Both were honored at an All-Michigan Academic Team luncheon in Lansing. Rumsey was unable to go, but Wilton said “I didn’t know it was that big of a deal when I was selected (for the team), but when I got to the luncheon and saw how many people were there and I knew some of them and knew how smart they are I was really impressed that I got selected for the team.”

Features 45 students and 85 pieces of literature and art
Emily Mainguy
Production Editor

“SC4’s ‘Patterns’ is the longest continually published community college literary and arts magazine in the state,” stated Martha Pennington, Director of Marketing.
The 57th annual “Patterns” was designed by a trio of students this year, Paige Falk in charge of Layout and Design, Jenelle Nofs doing the illustrations and Brad Stone in charge of Visuals.
This trio of designers was not the only ones involved, they were joined by Student Editors, Rachel Landon, Bailey Watson and Student Clerical Assistants, Ashley Guertin, Brittney Kargol, and Ryan McInnis.
“I enjoyed working with Brad because we both had great ideas for how we wanted the overall look to be,” explained Falk, a student designer.
The edition was released during the award ceremony and reception Sunday, April 26 where the following students received awards in the following categories:
Eleanor Mathews Award, writing – Marissa Jessee
Blanche Redman Award, poetry – Steffani Gentry
First-place poem – Steffani Gentry
Second-place poem – Amanda Brown
Richard Colwell Award, short story – Travis Boone
First-place short story – Travis Boone
Second-place short story – Elizabeth Mahlstedt
Kathleen Nickerson Award, essay – Lillian Petit
First-place, essay – Jeff Kroll
Second-place, essay – Therese Majeski
Patrick Bourke Award, art – Amanda Rogers
First-place, art – Ashley Stacy
Second-place, art – Kristen Hager
Third-place, art – Brad Stone
Grab a “Patterns” or view it online at www.sc4.edu/patterns. This year’s “Patterns” magazine is, like always, free and is in the Fine Arts building.

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Editor’s Note

All views expressed in editorials and columns within the Erie Square Gazette are those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the ESG or any of its advertisers. We welcome feedback!